Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety or cultivar of the ornamental shrub, Lagerstroemia indica, commonly known as crapemyrtle.
Description of the Related Art
Crapemyrtle is native to eastern China and was introduced into North America in the late 1700's. Since then, this popular ornamental shrub has been grown extensively across the southern half of the continent. Over the years, seedlings of Lagerstroemia indica have been selected and introduced into the market with different growth habits and flower colors. In addition, hybrids between L. indica and L. fauriei have been selected to add additional features, particularly more striking bark color.
The common name for the crapemyrtle is “crapemyrtle”, not “crape myrtle”. This is because the crapemyrtle is in the genus Lagerstroemia and in the Lythraceae plant family, and not in the genus Myrtus, which is in the Myrtaceae family. The crapemyrtle is simply a plant that looks, somewhat remotely, like a myrtle. On the other hand, the Greek myrtle, Myrtus communis, is a true myrtle and appropriately, the common name is two words.
In the preface of the book Standardized Plant Names, further insights are provided on this topic. “In the case of compound names in which a name properly belonging to one genus is applied in compound to a different genus, like horsechestnut or mayapple,failure to write or print them as compound words, either with a hyphen or solid is in many cases likely to cause serious confusion and should be consistently avoided. The committee prefers and prints mayapple. It makes no serious objection to may-apple. It objects very postively to may apple, which is apt to mean, for anyone not familiar with the plant, that it is a species or variety of the genus Malus.” See, American Joint Committee on Horticulture Nomenclature. Kelsey, H. P., W. A. Dayton, Editors, Standardized Plant Names, 2nd Ed., p. vii, J. H. McFarland Co., Harrisburg, Pa. (1942).
The United States Department of Agriculture identifies the common name of Lagerstroemia indica as crapemyrtle. See, The USDA, NRCS. 2004. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, La. 70874-4490 USA.
An assortment of methods has been utilized to develop improved varieties of crapemyrtle and several have had U.S. Plant Patents issued. For example, U.S. Plant Patents Nos. 4,182, 4,183, 4,184 and 4,185 disclose and claim a series of four new varieties of Lagerstroemia indica produced by crossing previously known varieties. Each of these varieties was characterized as having a weeping growth habit at maturity. U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,302 also discloses a new variety of crapemyrtle exhibiting a weeping growth habit at maturity.
U.S. Plant Pat. Nos. 6,365 and 6,383 disclose varieties of crapemyrtle derived from seedlings treated with a mutation-inducing chemical. It is generally known that sodium azide, colchicines and other chemicals are capable of producing plant mutations. Since one or more of the grandparents of the new variety of crapemyrtle was treated with one of these compounds, the present invention may be such a mutation.
The new variety of crapemrytle claimed herein, which has been given the cultivar name ‘WHIT VIII’, was selected from over 175,000 crapemyrtle seedlings grown from a selected seedling parent through eight generations. Seed resulting in the female grandparent of the present invention had been treated with sodium azide and colchicines known to induce mutations.
The crapemyrtle of the present invention was selected from about 1,350 seedlings grown from a 7th generation seedling plant from when this research began in 1986. The parent was selected for exceptional growth and prolific white flowers that produced a modest number of viable seeds. The male parent is not specifically known because pollination resulted from natural insect activity among hundreds of seedlings adjacent to the female plant. Since no attempt was made to control pollination, pollen could have come from any of the surrounding crapemyrtle in the fields.
This new and distinct crapemyrtle was asexually reproduced by rooting softwood cuttings from the original ‘WHIT VIII’ plant near Stillwater, Okla. The asexually reproduced plants show the unique features that characterize this crapemyrtle indicating that the unique features of this plant are stable through its successive generations of asexual reproduction. The softwood cuttings taken from my new variety of crapemyrtle were successfully rooted under intermittent mist. Subsequent cuttings from plants produced from the previous cuttings of the ‘WHIT VIII’ original parent have been rooted and are identical to the orginal plant. Growth, flowering, flower and foliage color and the capacity to rebloom on old inflorescences remain consistent with the parent.